Venus and Earth: Twins Separated at Birth?
Nov 29 at 5:05pm by Aileen
On November 29 the New York Times published an article about the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission, highlighting findings from that mission that suggest Earth and Venus are “really twins which are just separated at birth.” Hmmm…
In New Findings Underscore an Earth-Venus Kinship, author Kenneth Chang cites scientists’ surprising findings that Venus experiences lightning, wide swings in temperature, and evidence that Venus once hosted oceans covering as much of the planet as Earth’s oceans do.
Eight different articles about findings from the mission were published in the 11-29 issue of the journal Nature. The scientists speculate that Venus’ oceans evaporated to form the water vapor canopy that shrouds the planet, trapping heat in the good old ‘greenhouse effect’ to cause surface temperatures approaching 900º F, yet the mission also found that the temperature varies as much as 70º F between day and night. Which must be quite a relief in a climate hot enough during the day to melt metals!
New Light Shed on Human Evolution
Nov 22 at 2:02pm by Aileen
There have been quite a few recent news reports about research shedding new light on human evolution. Some of it’s in the realm of those interminable Just-So stories biologists never seem to tire of (despite the notable fact that those Just-So stories change regularly according to who’s doing the storytelling today), but some of it’s darned good science.
First up is the newer, better Tale of The Simple Reason Helps Males Evolve More Quickly than females. This one’s particularly entertaining, as Just-So stories go. It comes from researchers at the University of Florida Genetics Institute, to be published in the Proceedings of the NAS. Spokes-researcher Marta Wayne explains it thusly:
“It’s because males are simpler.”
Well Duh. Of course, Wayne explains the long known fact that male inheritance involves simpler genetic architecture as compared to females. No doubt such as the fact that a woman gives birth to the female’s contribution to genetic inheritance of her granddaughters when she gives birth to a daughter. But you’ve just gotta love the conclusion, drawn from research on the ubiquitous fruit fly:
“Researchers believe this relatively uncomplicated genetic pathway helps males respond to the pressures of sexual selection, ultimately enabling them to win females and produce greater numbers of offspring.”
Objectively Measuring Subjective Pain
Nov 16 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Doctors involved in treating pain have long been stifled by the subjectivity of pain - relying on patients to rate their own pain, but having no objective way to measure how intense the pain really is. The journal Nature reported on November 14 that they have discovered a signal from the brain that does objectively correlate with the amount of pain a person is experiencing.
The researchers from Oxford University in Britain believe that the signal couldbe used to refine pain relief techniques, offering better treatment for people in pain. The signal is identified as low frequency brain waves emanating from two regions deep in the brain. The more pain being experienced, the longer the waves last.
“It is an objective measure that correlates with a subjective measure,” said Morten Kringelbach, head of the research team. They hope this signal could help refiine deep-brain stimulation for chronic pain management through the development of a stimulator that only kicks in when these low frequency signals begin.
The ability to treat chronic pain directly without the use of drugs that affect consciousness or depress general physiology would be a significant advancement in medical care, alleviating the suffering of millions of people every year.
Related Links:
Scientists create targeted pain management
Flotation tanks help reduce pain
American Academy of Pain Management
Genetically Engineered Corn Endangers Aquatic Ecosystems
Nov 15 at 7:07pm by Aileen
The Chicago Tribune reports this week that scientists at Loyola University have established that the pollen, leaves and other plant parts of corn engineered to kill the European corn borer with Bt toxins could endanger the American midwest’s aquatic ecosystems when washed into nearby streams.
When eaten by aquatic insects called caddisflies, the Bt toxin stunts growth and increases mortality. These insects are food for fish and amphibians in the ecosystem. The scientists reportedly ‘feel’ that such unanticipated effects of GE technology need to be investigated, but of course the EPA and USDA (and Monsanto) don’t feel that way at all.
It might be difficult to separate the effects of GE plant wastes from the general toxic overload caused by modern agribusiness mega-farming practices, which also cause death and deformity among aquatic life forms and amphibians in midwestern ecosystems. And while consumers at home and abroad have made it known that they do not wish to consume genetically engineered pesticides disguised as food, the new market for corn as ethanol fodder makes it unlikely that GM corn is going to be phased out any time soon.
Related Links:
Older farmers less likely to plant Bt corn
GM corn might affect ecosystems
Eat to Live: 1 million against GM food
Eat to Live: Agriculture inspectors chided
Our Universe: Missing, Found, Then Missing Again
Nov 8 at 10:10pm by Aileen
Keeping Up With Astronomy’s Game of Hide-and-Seek
Big astrophysics science news this week that a Big Chunk of the Universe Is Missing - Again. This requires a little background for understanding how it is our universe can be so adept at playing hide-and-seek.
As much as 96% of the mass necessary to account for how our universe is observed to be has been missing for a long time. The mass is necessary to explain the gravity that holds galaxies together, but all the atomic matter we can see in planets, comets, asteroids, assorted space junk, stars and galaxies accounts for just 4% of it. In 1974 astronomer Vera Rubin discovered that instead of following a Newtonian scheme where Mercury travels faster around the sun than Neptune does, almost all stars rotating around a galaxy’s center - at any distance - all travel at the same speed.
There had to be some ‘extra’ source of gravity working in galaxies, but there wasn’t nearly enough mass to account for this anomaly. The choice was between gravity being variable (unthinkable!) or the existence of a great deal of extra mass that we couldn’t see. Scientists jumped on that answer in defense of Newtonian/Einsteinian gravity and gifted us with “Dark Matter.”
Resistance Is Futile…
Nov 1 at 5:05pm by Aileen
And Things Nature Does to Rattle Our Perceptions
Lots of interesting science reports lately about all things neurological, in brains and in our remote sensor neurons. First up is a surprising (or maybe not so surprising) finding by a researcher at the University of Hertfordshire - the harder we try to mentally suppress our thoughts and desires, the more we will indulge in the activity we’re trying to suppress.
Resistance to Thoughts of Chocolate is Futile
This research project dealt with something quite simple, chocolate. Which some say is addictive, but that’s a whole different area of research. Dr. Erskine of Hertfordshire divided 134 young (avg. age 22) people into two groups to investigate how our thinking affects our behaviors.
The participants were asked to try two brands of chocolate and answer questions about which they preferred and why. Then they were given two periods of thought verbalization where they were to talk about their thoughts while alone. On top of this they were told they must think about - or not think about - certain things. Including chocolate.
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